The Psychiatric Evaluation and Evidence-Based Rating Scales Assignment

The psychiatric interview is primarily used in diagnosing psychiatric illnesses since laboratory examinations cannot detect psychopathologic processes. Psychiatry relies on clinical observations involving face-to-face encounters between mental healthcare providers and patients. Essential psychiatric history is used in evaluating and assessing an individual’s past and present mental health conditions. Depending on the client’s psychiatric diagnosis, psychiatrists develop the most appropriate treatment plan. This discussion focuses on significant components of a psychiatric interview and the psychometric properties of the assigned instrument. The Psychiatric Evaluation and Evidence-Based Rating Scales Assignment

Components of Psychiatric Interview

The first essential element of the psychiatric interview involves establishing a good therapeutic relationship between the practitioner and the client. Studies show that a good therapeutic relationship in mental health care results in positive health outcomes (Hartley et al., 2020). Mental healthcare providers establish a rapport with the patients by showing concern for their conditions. Additionally, psychiatrists and PMHNPs use open-ended questions to collect essential mental health history during psychiatric interviews. Consequently, the patient trusts the mental health provider, sharing essential psychiatric history needed for diagnosis and treatment. Therefore, this psychiatric interview component is important since it enhances the diagnosis and treatment of various mental health disorders. The Psychiatric Evaluation and Evidence-Based Rating Scales Assignment

ORDER  HERE A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

The second component is past psychiatric history. It includes all psychiatric diagnoses, symptoms, and treatments reported over the patient’s lifespan. The psychiatrist should include when the symptoms occurred, duration, frequency, and severity of episodes. For instance, a psychiatrist should record homicidal or suicidal ideations, self-injury episodes, or harm caused to others. Treatment episodes should also be documented, including outpatient, involuntary, or involuntary treatment. Furthermore, the practitioner should review medication use and document data regarding all relevant treatment therapies, such as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), used in managing the patient’s psychiatric symptoms. Drug-related side effects experienced by the patient should also be documented. Psychiatrists should avoid prescribing drugs with potential adverse effects to patients with mental health disorders to enhance compliance with the treatment therapy (Semahegn et al., 2020). Lastly, the psychiatrist should consider diagnosis from previous episodes. This psychiatric interview component is important since it guides practitioners in providing informed mental health care. The Psychiatric Evaluation and Evidence-Based Rating Scales Assignment

The third component is the mental status exam (MSE), which focuses on exploring the patient’s mental functioning areas to confirm symptoms of the reported mental illness. The mental healthcare provider starts the MSE by observing the client’s behaviors directly during the psychiatric interview. For instance, the PMHNP can record the client’s cooperation and attention during the clinical interview. Secondly, the practitioner questions the client or informant about the client’s functioning capacity. For example, the practitioner can ask the client about his or her self-reported mood during the psychiatric interview. The last aspect of MSE involves cognitive screening. According to Renn and John (2019), cognitive screening in mental health care entails appearance, behavior, speech, judgment, affect, abstract reasoning, cognition, and thought processes. A psychiatrist should assess the client’s intention, reason for living, motivation, and therapeutic alliance if suicidal ideations are detected. This component is important since it guides practitioners in recommending the most appropriate support in performing daily life activities.

The fourth component is formulation. It is based on data collected during clinical interviews, psychiatric diagnosis, and treatment plans. The formulation also includes a brief summary of the patient’s psychiatric history, current presentation, and mental status. A practitioner combines these elements in developing the most appropriate differential diagnosis for the patient’s psychiatric illness. Differential diagnosis is used in ruling out other potential diagnoses with overlapping symptoms. For instance, differential diagnoses guide clinicians in differentiating between mental health disorders characterized by mood episodes, including major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (Lee et al., 2022). Furthermore, practitioners should include the safety assessment in the formulation. This formulation aspect will estimate the patient’s suicide risk, resulting in the most appropriate treatment therapy. Therefore, formulation is important since it facilitates holistic psychiatric care, resulting in positive mental health outcomes. The Psychiatric Evaluation and Evidence-Based Rating Scales Assignment

Psychometric Properties of the PTSD Checklist (PCL)

The PCL-5 is the most commonly used DSM-5 criteria for assessing PTSD symptoms. The 20-item questionnaire reflects additional PTSD symptoms and changes in existing symptoms (Moshier et al., 2019). This tool has a self-report rating scale ranging from 0 to 4 in every symptom. Additionally, it reflects 1-5 changes in the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for PTSD. The PCL-5 has relatively high internal consistency, validity, good diagnostic utility, and acceptable stability (Islam et al., 2022). Nonetheless, variations are reported in operating characteristics with PTSD diagnosis efficiency scores ranging from 43 to 44. Practitioners use the PCL-5 if a client demonstrates symptoms of PTSD during the psychiatric interview. This scale is helpful to practitioners since it enables them to detect new changes in the client’s PTSD symptoms during a psychiatric assessment. Therefore, practitioners develop the most appropriate treatment therapy depending on changes in the client’s existing symptoms or manifestation of new symptoms. The Psychiatric Evaluation and Evidence-Based Rating Scales Assignment

ORDER  NOW

References

Hartley, S., Raphael, J., Lovell, K., & Berry, K. (2020). Effective nurse–patient relationships in mental health care: A systematic review of interventions to improve the therapeutic alliance. International Journal of Nursing Studies, p. 102, 103490.

Islam, M. S., Ferdous, M., Sujan, M. S. H., Tasnim, R., Masud, J. H. B., Kundu, S., … & Gozal, D. (2022). The psychometric properties of the Bangla Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5): preliminary reports from a large-scale validation study. BMC Psychiatry, 22(1), 1-14.

Lee, H. J., Cho, C. H., Lee, T., Jeong, J., Yeom, J. W., Kim, S., … & Kim, L. (2022). Predicting impending mood episode recurrence using real-time digital phenotypes in major depression and bipolar disorders in South Korea: a prospective nationwide cohort study. Psychological Medicine, 1-9.

Moshier, S. J., Lee, D. J., Bovin, M. J., Gauthier, G., Zax, A., Rosen, R. C., … & Marx, B. P. (2019). An empirical crosswalk for the PTSD checklist: translating DSM‐IV to DSM‐5 using a veteran sample. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 32(5), 799-805.

Renn, B. N., & John, S. E. (2019). Mental status examination. Diagnostic Interviewing, 77-102.

Semahegn, A., Torpey, K., Manu, A., Assefa, N., Tesfaye, G., & Ankomah, A. (2020). Psychotropic medication non-adherence and its associated factors among patients with major psychiatric disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Systematic Reviews, 9(1), 1-18.

Post a brief explanation of three important components of the psychiatric interview and why you consider these elements important.
Explain the psychometric properties of the rating scale you were assigned. (PTSD Checklist (PCL) )

Explain when it is appropriate to use this rating scale with clients during the psychiatric interview and how the scale is helpful to a nurse practitioner’s psychiatric assessment. Support your approach with evidence-based literature. If you use a tool not assigned to you, you will not receive full credit on this assignment.

Note : The scale assign PTSD Checklist (PCL) The Psychiatric Evaluation and Evidence-Based Rating Scales Assignment